As the demand for microfabrication of semiconductor devices or MEMS increases, not only a conventional photolithography technology but also a microfabrication technology in which an uncured resin on a substrate is molded by a mold to thereby form a resin pattern on the substrate have been receiving attention. This technology is also referred to as an ‘imprint technology’, by which a fine structure with dimensions of a few nanometers can be formed on a substrate. One example of imprint technologies includes a photo-curing method. An imprint apparatus employing the photo-curing method first applies an ultraviolet curable resin (imprint material, photocurable resin) to a shot (imprint region) on a substrate (wafer). Next, the resin (uncured resin) is molded by a mold. After the ultraviolet curable resin is irradiated with ultraviolet light for curing, the cured resin is released from the mold, whereby a resin pattern is formed on the substrate.
With this type of imprint apparatus, when the resin fills the fine contoured pattern formed by the mold during pressing of the mold against the resin on the substrate, it sometimes happens that the resin pattern is not properly formed due to occurrence of unfilled portions stemming from residual air bubbles. Conventionally, imprint apparatuses have been proposed in which the interstice between the mold and the substrate during pressing is filled with a special gas to inhibit residual air bubbles. Patent Literature 1 discloses an imprint lithography method including a step in which a highly soluble or diffusible gas is conveyed to a position on a substrate near a viscous liquid (resin).